Epicte

Product Notes

Born in Los Angeles, Epicte spent the bulk of his pre-collegiate education revolutionizing the fashion of the Santa Monica-Malibu Unified School District. He pioneered the pajamas-under-shorts look in the late 90s and made the ballpoint pen an accessory without which no student would dare be seen. While not inspiring radical change through questionable clothing choices, Epicte spent hours a day learning how to play timpani. After receiving five years of instruction from LA-area percussionist Aaron Smith, he decided he was ready to leave the comfort of his home and seek his fortune as a amateur musician. Fifteen minutes later, his parents vetoed his decision and Epicte, instead, chose to attend college in Providence, Rhode Island. Inspired by a professor's admonition that he not 'put too much effort into studying composition' and shouldn't 'expect to set the world on fire,' Epicte took as many musical composition courses as his schedule would allow. In 2002, he discovered Reason, software that would change his life and facilitate his creative output for years to come. Although at that point he was poised to set the world on fire, Epicte decided to handicap himself as much as possible and picked the least logical course of study to follow his undergraduate work: he chose law school. After a year spent teaching English in Japan, Epicte matriculated at 'one of the safest law campuses in DC.' Inspired by the Pacific Ocean, Epicte spent the summer of 2005 writing as much music as he could. He'd wake up early, drink a glass of water, stare out his bedroom window, drink more water, use the facilities, and finally get to work. By five, he'd have a complete track. Throughout the summer, things continued this way until he decided to stop, get a tan, and return to law school. During his second and third years at law school, Epicte grew close with LA-based music producer Betafish. Good friends in high school, the two picked up right where they left off and soon arrived at the possibility of an album. The conversations consisted mainly of Betafish saying 'let's do an album' and Epicte replying 'alright, let me think about it.' Tired of thinking, Epicte finally agreed to get down to business and after some hard work, cheap red wine, and lots of air freshener, an album was born. Epicte's music was once described by Zack Smith the Blacksmith as 'groove-oriented electro-pop.' Unable to come up with anything better than that, Epicte concurs. His musical influences include Steve Reich, RJD2, Aphex Twin, Squarepusher, John Coltrane, M83, Junior Boys, Boards of Canada, Amon Tobin, Erlend Øye, Nobuo Uematsu, and many others.

Born in Los Angeles, Epicte spent the bulk of his pre-collegiate education revolutionizing the fashion of the Santa Monica-Malibu Unified School District. He pioneered the pajamas-under-shorts look in the late 90s and made the ballpoint pen an accessory without which no student would dare be seen. While not inspiring radical change through questionable clothing choices, Epicte spent hours a day learning how to play timpani. After receiving five years of instruction from LA-area percussionist Aaron Smith, he decided he was ready to leave the comfort of his home and seek his fortune as a amateur musician. Fifteen minutes later, his parents vetoed his decision and Epicte, instead, chose to attend college in Providence, Rhode Island. Inspired by a professor's admonition that he not 'put too much effort into studying composition' and shouldn't 'expect to set the world on fire,' Epicte took as many musical composition courses as his schedule would allow. In 2002, he discovered Reason, software that would change his life and facilitate his creative output for years to come. Although at that point he was poised to set the world on fire, Epicte decided to handicap himself as much as possible and picked the least logical course of study to follow his undergraduate work: he chose law school. After a year spent teaching English in Japan, Epicte matriculated at 'one of the safest law campuses in DC.' Inspired by the Pacific Ocean, Epicte spent the summer of 2005 writing as much music as he could. He'd wake up early, drink a glass of water, stare out his bedroom window, drink more water, use the facilities, and finally get to work. By five, he'd have a complete track. Throughout the summer, things continued this way until he decided to stop, get a tan, and return to law school. During his second and third years at law school, Epicte grew close with LA-based music producer Betafish. Good friends in high school, the two picked up right where they left off and soon arrived at the possibility of an album. The conversations consisted mainly of Betafish saying 'let's do an album' and Epicte replying 'alright, let me think about it.' Tired of thinking, Epicte finally agreed to get down to business and after some hard work, cheap red wine, and lots of air freshener, an album was born. Epicte's music was once described by Zack Smith the Blacksmith as 'groove-oriented electro-pop.' Unable to come up with anything better than that, Epicte concurs. His musical influences include Steve Reich, RJD2, Aphex Twin, Squarepusher, John Coltrane, M83, Junior Boys, Boards of Canada, Amon Tobin, Erlend Øye, Nobuo Uematsu, and many others.